


Slytherins

by drarryangels



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Post-War, Second Chances, Slytherins, eighth year, friendships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-31
Updated: 2019-07-31
Packaged: 2020-07-27 23:42:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20054470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drarryangels/pseuds/drarryangels
Summary: Harry was done thinking about Slytherins. There had been too many interactions with them. Harry hadn’t even gotten the chance to talk to the rest of his friends. Plus, there was the whole ‘Slytherin isn’t evil’ thing to think about.





	Slytherins

“Well, this is a disaster.”

“Harry, you need to keep your chin up, and keep moving forward. everything’s going to be fine,” Hermione sighed. 

“Fine?” Harry let out a strangled laugh. “All eighth years having one common room does not sound _fine_ to me!”

“Listen,” Hermione grabbed Harry by the shoulders and turned him to face her. “Don’t be ridiculous. We have to get over this old school drama. You know we do.”

“Hermione.”

“Harry. Stop it right now. You’re acting like a child,” Hermione stated.

“That is so unfair-” Harry started.

“Listen to yourself! You’re not a child anymore. None of us are! So we need to grow up, and stop squabbling, and act like civilized humans.” Hermione took a breath. “And yes, Harry, that means that you need to be polite about sharing a common room.”

“What about Malfoy?” Harry folded his arms over his chest. 

“You’re allowed to hold your grudges, Harry. Just please don’t start something with him,” Hermione swiped a hand over her face. 

“Start something?” Harry looked offended. 

“Yes, start something,” Hermione said.

“Why aren’t you more upset about being in close proximity to him for a whole year?” Harry threw up his hands. 

Hermione rolled her eyes. “Because he sent me an apology letter over the summer and asked me to meet him.”

“You met with him over the summer?” 

“I met with him, and we talked. You know, he really had it just as bad as you did, Harry,” Hermione said, patting his arm before turning away to lead them to a seat in the Great Hall. 

“Just as bad as I- what? Hermione!”

Harry stumbled after Hermione, but she didn’t say another word about Draco Malfoy for the rest of the evening.

The next morning was rather uneventful. That is, if you don’t consider Hermione Granger sitting down at the Slytherin table an event.

And really, it wasn’t. Despite Harry’s offended gasp of shock, really no one made a fuss about her sitting there. Pansy Parkinson only glanced at her before scooting aside to give Hermione a place to sit.

“You’ve been in touch with more people than Malfoy this summer, Hermione,” Harry hissed as he slid in next to her at the Slytherin table. 

“Is that a problem?” Parkinson leaned around Hermione to glare at Harry. 

“I can speak for myself, thanks,” Hermione said, but smiled at Parkinson all the same. 

“Seriously, Hermione, why?” Harry said, trying to block Parkinson from his view.

“Did you listen to me at all yesterday?” Hermione said exasperatedly before reaching for the eggs. 

“Yo, Potter,” Blaise Zabini said, taking a seat across from Harry. 

“Er, hi,” stammered Harry. 

“No need to look like you’ve just seen the Bloody Baron,” Zabini smiled. “He doesn’t come around for breakfast.”

“Oh, er, that’s nice,” Harry looked down at his plate. 

“Something caught in your throat, Potter?” Zabini asked. 

“No, I’m fine,” Harry said shortly, stuffing food into his mouth. 

“Hey, listen,” Zabini said. “Potter, pay attention. What’s your deal?”

Harry looked up with annoyance. “What’s my deal, Zabini? You bullied my friends for six years, and now you want to be all buddy buddy? I don’t think so.”

“Harry!” Hermione muttered under her breath warningly. 

“Woah,” Zabini frowned. “Uh, I don’t think we’ve ever talked once since going to school here except for an excuse me in the corridors.”

Harry didn’t say anything.

“And for the record, I’ve never bullied you or your friends. Or anyone for that matter,” Zabini stated. 

“No,” came another voice. “That would’ve been me.”

Harry looked up sharply to see the fair features of Draco Malfoy standing a couple feet away.

“And that’s my cue to leave,” Zabini chugged the rest of his pumpkin juice and strode off, slinging his bag over his shoulder. 

“Potter,” Malfoy said. 

“What do you want, Malfoy?”

“Well, you are sitting in my spot. I figured it would be rude to not say hello,” Malfoy sighed, sitting down in Zabini’s recently vacated seat. 

“This has been a wonderful breakfast,” Harry said, shoveling food into his mouth at random. “Hermione, I’ll see you later.”

“Be in the library,” Hermione said absently, looking over a book in her lap. 

Harry rolled his eyes and stormed off from the table, going anywhere but staying in that seat. Why had he needed to sit next to Hermione? She could take care of herself, and he had other friends in Gryffindor. He didn’t need to go sit at the Slytherin table with her. Sure, he’d been a little curious about what it was like at that table, but it had been just as horrid as he had expected it be.

Stupid Slytherins.

The rest of the days classes passed fairly smoothly. Of course there were the endless fangirls prowling the hallways for the famous Harry Potter, but thanks to the secret passages of Hogwarts, Harry made it to the end of the day unscathed and exhausted.

Harry drudged up the stairs to the third floor, where the new dorms and common room for the eighth years were located.

“Victory,” Harry mumbled at the portrait while it swung open. Not the most witty password. McGonagall wasn’t nearly as clever with them as Dumbledore had been. 

Surprisingly, the common room was well decorated and had a warm feeling emanating from it. The decor was neutral for the most part, but all four of the house banners were hung around the walls of the common room, and students of different houses were sprawled around the room.

“Nice, isn’t it?” Zabini’s voice made Harry jump. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s fine.” Harry paused and thought of what Hermione had said. “Sorry about this morning. It was unfair of me to say those things.”

“Don’t worry about it, man,” Zabini shrugged. “But just so you know, Slytherin isn’t the evil house you think it is.”

“I-”

“You’re not the only one that thinks it. I just want to let you know that we’re kids. The same way you were a kid when you first got here. There are jerks in every house. And just because Voldemort was in Slytherin, doesn’t mean we’re all crazy sociopaths.”

Harry let out a surprised laugh. “I guess you’re right. I really am sorry. For thinking that all those years.”

Zabini smiled a little. “It’s like saying that just because Dumbledore was in Gryffindor, all Gryffindors are wizarding gods.”

Harry’s smile faded a little. “Yeah, well Dumbledore turned out to not be so wonderful in the end.”

Zabini lifted his hands in mock surrender. “You knew him best.”

Harry shrugged and looked down. “You don’t know the half of it.”

“No one really does when it comes to you,” Zabini clapped Harry on the back and walked off. 

Harry stood in place, still staring at his feet. Someone had told him that looking at the ground will naturally ground you. But thinking of Pettigrew coming out of Gryffindor, supposedly good. Thinking of Blaise Zabini going his whole life feeling like people hated him because he was Slytherin. But mostly. Mostly thinking of Dumbledore. Dumbledore’s neverending twinkle. How perfect he was. Love. Love. He said. Love will save us all. It’s an unknown power. Thinking of how Dumbledore had built him up, thinking it was for the ultimate tear down. Raising a child for slaughter. Thinking of Dumbledore’s love and all the ways it had twisted Harry. Ripped him to be stitched in strange ways.

It was all making Harry dizzy.

“Potter?” A voice came through the haze distantly. “Potter, you don’t look well.”

“What?” Harry heard his voice like it had come out of someone else’s mouth. 

He heard the voice cry out before he felt the floor slam into his knees.

“Potter?”

Harry rolled over onto his back and blinked. The world was smudgy, but no longer dizzy. And Draco Malfoy’s face was hanging over him.

He had a thin face. His whole body was thin; had always been like that. Harry remembered when his hair had been laser straight and gelled back. It wasn’t like that anymore. His hair hung in soft, loose waves, some curls edging around his ears. It was strange to see how he had changed.

Somehow more relaxed, but also more jagged.

Harry shook his head and moved to sit up slowly. Malfoy scooted back quickly, but reached out a hand to help Harry up as if on instinct. And on instinct, of course, Harry took his hand and let Malfoy help him.

“Thanks,” Harry muttered, swaying a little as he stood. 

“Er, don’t mention it. Are you alright? I mean, you sort of just got all gray and then just fell over,” Malfoy said hurriedly. 

“I’m fine,” Harry gave Malfoy a tight-lipped smile. “Thanks. I’m going to go head up to the dorms.”

Malfoy nodded and stepped back.

Harry waved off the concerned looks and comments as he walked towards the dorms. All the faces and voices sounded overly worried, but none of them had gotten up to help Harry. They had just watched. Probably waiting for the next big Potter mess up.

Later, when Harry was lying in bed, barely aware of his surroundings, he realized that Malfoy hadn’t asked him anything about why he had suddenly fallen over. He had just helped him up and backed away. If Hermione had been there, she would have leapt on him with questions. As it was, the bystanders in the common room had asked him intrusive questions as he walked away. Malfoy didn’t, though.

Harry was done thinking about Slytherins. There had been too many interactions with them today. Harry hadn’t even gotten the chance to talk to the rest of his friends. Plus, there was the whole ‘Slytherin isn’t evil’ thing to still think about.

What Zabini had said made sense. And it was true, and right. Harry really hadn’t given Slytherin even a glance since Ron had said that it was evil before they had even arrived at Hogwarts.

Maybe it was about time to give the Slytherins a chance.

Even Malfoy.


End file.
